This invention relates generally to the field of industrial trucks and, more particularly, to a driver restraint device for an industrial truck having a driver's seat. The driver restraint device preferably has a belt and a buckle with a closing latch connected to the belt. The closing latch can be attached to the buckle. The belt can be automatically retracted by means of a retractor such that when the belt is retracted, the closing latch is in a defined inoperative position.
Driver restraint devices of the prior art are used on industrial trucks and on other vehicles. FIG. 1 of the drawings shows one example of a conventional industrial truck 20 having a lifting device 22 in the form of a pair of forks and a driver's compartment 24. A seat 26 and a control console 28 with control elements 30 for controlling the operation of truck 20 and/or the lifting device 22 are located in the driver's compartment 24. The seat 26 typically has a conventional automobile-type seat belt device having a belt with a latch wound around a spring biased retractor located on one side of the seat 26 and a buckle located on the other side of the seat 26. Operation of such conventional seat belt systems is well known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The unused portion of the belt is typically rolled up on the retractor. A driver seated in the driver's seat can unroll the belt from the retractor by grasping the latch and pulling. The driver places the belt around his body and then attaches the belt to the buckle by inserting the closing latch into the buckle slot. Tension exerted on the belt by the retractor ensures that the belt remains in contact with the driver's body at all times.
On driver restraint devices of the prior art, the inoperative positions of the closing latch and of the buckle, i.e. the non-connected position of the closing latch and buckle, are in the vicinity of the transition from the seat surface of the driver's seat into the backrest. This location requires the driver to assume an unnatural bodily position to attach the belt to the buckle since the driver must typically reach behind him to grab the closing latch and then try to insert the latch into the buckle, which is also typically located behind the driver on the opposite side of the seat. It is also necessary for the driver to look at the closing latch and/or the buckle during this operation since the latch, typically a flat plate, must be inserted into a thin slot in the buckle, with the slot being not much larger than the latch.
In practice, conventional driver restraint devices of the type described above on industrial trucks are frequently left unattached by the drivers because the manual operations and movements required to attach the belt are time-consuming, uncomfortable and physically tiring. This is a safety hazard since, should the driver be involved in an accident while not wearing the seat belt, the driver could be thrown from the driver's compartment and injured.
The object of this invention is to provide a driver restraint device which can be comfortably operated by a driver on an industrial truck and which provides that the attachment and release of the safety belt can be performed in a manner which is ergonomically advantageous.